KPMG launches EPR Alliance to aid digital transformation
Explore the EPR Alliance's role in aiding NHS trusts to implement and optimise EPR systems by 2025 seamlessly.
The inception of the EPR Alliance, a pioneering coalition formulated by KPMG in collaboration with Apira, Stalis, and Aire Logic, aims to support NHS trust’s implementation of electronic patient record (EPR) systems. This alliance, which was officially launched on September 25th, has been created to assist trusts in meeting the ambitious target set by NHS England: to have a fully functional EPR system in place by March 2025. The EPR Alliance offers a comprehensive EPR transformation service, ensuring that the trusts can navigate the complexities and challenges of large-scale EPR implementation with adept expertise and strategic guidance.
Jaz Dhaliwal, the lead partner for KPMG Digital Health, who also possesses a rich background as a doctor in general practice and a digital leader elected to the techUK Health and Social Care Council, has been instrumental in forming the Alliance. Her insights, derived from conversations with customers and NHS England, illuminated the dire necessity for a divergent approach to achieve the national 2025 target, ensuring every hospital is embedded with an EPR. Dhaliwal’s medical background and experience in deploying technology across the NHS have provided her with a profound understanding of the intricacies and challenges involved in technology adoption, recognising that the ‘go-live’ moment is merely the commencement of the journey.
The Alliance, while being the first of its kind in the health and care sector, is not just a response to the immediate challenge of EPR implementation but is also a visionary approach towards the future of digital integrated care. Dhaliwal perceives an integrated patient record as the fundamental bedrock for the future of digital integrated care, underscoring the impossibility of implementing generative AI or personalised medicine on a population health level if the EPR is not fit for purpose. The statistics from the NHS frontline digitisation programme reveal that 28 NHS trusts are yet to implement an EPR, while another 90 require assistance in optimising their systems.
David Corbett, executive director at Apira, elucidates that while no trust solely utilises a paper-based system, numerous trusts are grappling with disparate legacy systems, such as separate PAS, emergency departments, theatres, and maternity systems. The Alliance, therefore, emerges as a beacon of hope and a pillar of support for these trusts, providing a comprehensive range of skills and expertise. KPMG, as the lead partner, brings to the table a robust reputation for large-scale transformation and a proven record in training at scale. Apira, as articulated by Corbett, are the commercial experts, aiding trusts with procurement and crafting a compelling business case. Stalis, with a long-standing reputation as a data quality and migration expert, offers a full data quality and migration service alongside a rich archiving solution, which can be embedded into the EPR, ensuring clinicians have instant access to the full patient record at the point of care.
The Alliance partners aim to provide a comprehensive, integrated service to NHS trusts through their collective expertise and shared history of collaboration. Aire Logic, known for delivering user-centred design and engineering on a myriad of health and care projects, plays a pivotal role in the Alliance by assisting trusts in assessing their needs, integrating legacy systems into their EPR, and rapidly creating niche functionality that their primary EPR may not support using the low code platform, AireSuite. Joseph Waller, founding director of Aire Logic, describes their role as the “putty and the glue,” filling in new features and cutting-edge innovation whenever a gap in functionality from an EPR vendor is identified.
The Alliance provides a breadth of expertise through a single point of entry and offers flexibility to the trusts. According to Corbett, not every trust will necessitate all the services the Alliance provides. Some may opt for a pick-and-mix approach, while others may engage with the Alliance for the entirety of the journey. The Alliance, therefore, not only aids in meeting NHS England’s EPR 2025 deadline but also envisions a future of continuous optimisation, developing long-term relationships to deal with the advancements and impacts of technologies like artificial intelligence on EPR.